Frankenstein (The Gothic Chronicles Collection): Deluxe Edition

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was an English novelist who, at the age of 19, wrote the Gothic horror novel Frankenstein, which not only inspired generations of writers toward the dark and macabre but also is considered by many the prototypical science fiction novel. Shelley was born in London to philosopher William Godwin and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, who died shortly after Shelley's birth. Raised by her father, she was well educated and deeply versed in Godwin's anarchist political notions. She married Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, one of her father's political followers, in 1816. It was during a trip to Geneva, Switzerland, with her husband and Lord Byron that she famously conceived the idea for Frankenstein, the result of a competition to write the best horror story. After her husband drowned in a sailing accident, Shelley returned to England to devote herself to raising their only surviving child and writing professionally. Along with Frankenstein, Shelley authored the novels Valperga, Perkin Warbeck, The Last Man, Lodore, and Falkner, as well as travelogues, short stories, and children's literature.

Stephen is an illustrator in South Carolina. His illustrations have been featured in award-winning books, on album covers, in magazines, and on stage at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. After graduating from Winthrop University, he completed an artist residency in New Orleans before working in marketing and design jobs, including ten years with the York County Culture & Heritage Museums. His freelance work has included projects with HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, and several faith-based publishing houses. He has received ECPA Top Shelf Book Cover Awards and two Dove Award nominations for his album cover art.

He speaks on creativity at conferences and on podcasts and has shared and led workshops at The Rabbit Room’s annual Hutchmoot gatherings in Nashville. Locally, he founded Friday Arts Project, a nonprofit arts organization dedicated to calling forth a more fully human community, and serves on the board of the Arts Council of York County and the Rock Hill Poet Laureate Committee. He and his wife, Erica, have two daughters. He enjoys cooking in giant iron pots, playing banjo, and researching reptile and amphibian conservation efforts.